Berlin, February 2, 2021 (kk) - He was a master of colors and fully explored their potential: Johannes Geccelli's works are attributed to Color Field Painting and his name is mentioned in the same vane with renowned artists like Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Rupprecht Geiger and Gotthard Graubner.

Geccelli's work was honored with, among others, the Art Prize of the State of North-Rhine Westphalia, the Villa-Romana-Prize, the Ruhr Prize for Art and Science and the Lovis-Corinth-Prize. As of March 5, Ketterer Kunst in Berlin hosts the exhibition "Im Anthrazit stecken viele Möglichkeiten" (Anthracite Offers Great Opportunities) with pictures from over thirty years of activity. .

"With this exhibition we would like to honor the work of the internationally networked artist who had made Brandenburg his adopted home," says Dr. Simone Wiechers, head of the Berlin branch of Ketterer Kunst. "He was an important initiator in the art world during his lifetime and unfortunately fell into oblivion after his death, which is why I am all the more happy that his colorful works will get the attention they deserve."

Even though color was the core theme of Johannes Geccelli's creation, exploring its creative potential anew over and over again, the human figure also occupied an important yet only hinted position in his œuvre. The artist, who deceased in Blankenfelde-Mahlow in 2011, often used only a color nuance or a shading to express the transience of human existence. His art is about nothing less then the quest for the meaning of life, which he pursued in a profound play of colors with great mastery.

Born in Königsberg in 1925, he only began to study art in 1947 after he was released from war captivity. Until 1951 he studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. An important inspiration was Paul Bindel, whose class included artists like Raimund Girke, Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Hans Salentin.

In the late 1950s Geccelli was active in the surroundings of the ZERO group, showed works in the studio of Otto Piene and was guest lecturer at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg as of 1964. A year later he followed a call to the Berlin University of the Arts. On parting in 1988, his fellow professors at the university, among them Georg Baselitz, gave him a portfolio with unique works as a farewell gift. The portfolio will be called up in the Rare Books Auction at Ketterer Kunst in Hamburg in May.

Through mediation of George Rickey, he became a fellow at the Hand-Hollow-Foundation in East Chatham in 1980 and was also a guest lecturer at Hunter College in New York City. In 1983 he was invited to the Centre International d'Expérimentation Artistique in Boissano.

He was a good friend of international artists like George Rickey and Bridget Riley, and had close contacts in the art world. On a visit to the studio of Piero Dorazio in Rome in 1960, he purchased an early work that Ketterer Kunst in Munich is going to offer in its auction in June. In 1977, Dieter Honisch, then director of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, acquired one of his works for the museum‘s collection. Just five years later Geccelli participated in the exhibition "Hommage à Barnett Newman" at the Berlin Nationalgalerie. At the invitation of Sean Scully, he held a lecture in Princeton and considered taking a post at the New York School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture in 1990, however, he eventually decided against it and moved into his studio in Jühnsdorf near Berlin in 1994, the beginning of a particularly intensive creative period that would last up until his death.

On occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Johannes Geccelli – Im Anthrazit stecken viele Möglichkeiten" on March 4 at 7 p. m., the introduction by Dr. Simone Wiechers, curator of the exhibition and head of the Berlin branch of Ketterer Kunst, as well as by Anna Finke, administrator of Johannes Geccelli's estate, will be followed by a speech from Dr. Heinz Liesbrock, director of the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat, Bottrop, an expert on the artist's œuvre.

Ketterer Kunst (www.kettererkunst.com and www.ketterer-internet-auctions.com) with headquarters in Munich and branches in Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Berlin as well as with a global network of representatives in, among others, the USA and Brazil, was founded in 1954. The auction house has a focus on Fine Art from the 19th to the 21st Century and Rare Books. In its market segment Ketterer Kunst is not only Germany's number one but also the leading house in the European Union. Ketterer Kunst is a specialist for German art, as well as for many international artist who are sought-after on the European market and who regularly realize record prices at Ketterer Kunst. According to the annual 2021 artprice database, Ketterer Kunst is the only and best-selling family business represented in the global Top 15.

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